MORAGA, Calif. — The 2020 Beach Volleyball season officially began on Saturday afternoon for Saint Mary's, and it got started with some of the best of the best right off the top. The Gaels hosted both No. 11 Cal and No. 14 Grand Canyon University on Saturday at the sand courts located in the middle of campus. Saint Mary's lost to Cal 5-0 and then fell in a close contest 3-2 to the Lopes.
 
The afternoon began with a thrilling back-and-forth battle between the fives of Jennifer "Boo" Laird/Kelsey Knudsen for SMC and Jacqueline Ribeiro/Chloe Luyties of Cal. The two pairs were trading points back and forth until the Golden Bears escaped with a 28-26 win, and they then took the second set to remain clean on the day. Cal wound up winning all five pairings to sweep the Gaels in their first showing of the new season.
 
RESULTS vs. CAL
 
1. Mirkovic/Lindahl (Cal) def. Alexsa "Crash" Parker/Selbie Christensen (SMC) 15-21, 13-21
2. Schafer/Polo (Cal) def. Morgan Kendrick/Karmin Brown (SMC) 14-21, 14-21
3. Radell/Micheletti (Cal) def. Chandler Cowell/Elena Baka (SMC) 19-21, 17-21
4. Dueck/Inman (Cal) def. Sienna Young/Jasmin Suarez (SMC) 15-21, 11-21
5. Ribeiro/Luyties (Cal) def. Kelsey Knudsen/Jennifer "Boo" Laird (SMC) 26-28, 16-21
 
Things were different for Saint Mary's against No. 14 Grand Canyon University, even if they didn't start that way. Saint Mary's dropped the first two pairings in the four and five matchups, but they were able to come back in the two and three. The pairing of Morgan Kendrick/Karmin Brown dropped their first set, but then took the final two with scores of 21-15 and 15-10 to earn the Gaels first win of the year. On the other court, Chandler Cowell/Elena Baka fell behind early in the third pairing, but won the final two sets as well with scores of 21-19 and 16-14 to even the score at 2-2 overall.
 
The Gaels wound up losing the matchup of ones that ultimately decided the outcome, and fell 3-2 to Grand Canyon in a tight contest that showed the Gaels are capable of playing up to some of the best pairings in the country.
 
RESULTS vs. GCU
 
1. Baumann/Defalco (GCU) def. Alexsa "Crash" Parker/Selbie Christensen (SMC) 11-21, 6-21
2. Morgan Kendrick/Karmin Brown (SMC) def. Towne/Stanfiled (GCU) 13-21, 21-15, 15-10
3. Chandler Cowell/Elena Baka (SMC) def. Evans/Sarber (GCU) 16-21, 21-19, 16-14
4. Honzovicova/Hess (GCU) def. Sienna Young/Jasmin Suarez (SMC) 12-21, 14-21
5. Relaz/Jarzombek (GCU) def. Kelsey Knudsen/Jennifer "Boo" Laird (SMC) 19-21, 14-21
 
"Today we had an amazing opportunity to better ourselves against two great opponents," Chandler Cowell said following the first two matches of the year. "Today was the perfect environment to practice our inner-game, and I can say that each pair figured out a new way to grow both individually and as a team."
 
The Gaels will next be in action on Saturday, February 29 as they head across the Bay to Stanford for a pair of matches hosted by the Cardinal. First, the Gaels will take on No. 5 Hawaii at 9:00 am before following that up with a date against No. 19 Stanford at 11:00 am, continuing the stretch of ranked opponents to begin the 2020 beach season.

#GaelsRise